Is Google Home Good For The Elderly? (Is It Better Than Amazon Echo?)

The Google Home product is another voice activated daily assistance device that, just like Alexa, can provide many different “services” to senior citizens. There are many similarities and some differences.

But the question I’m answering here will be…

Is Google Home good for seniors? – Yes but in my opinion it’s not as good as Amazon’s Alexa. Very much like Alexa. the Google Home device can provide a variety of services that can make life for older adults more convenient and safer. Things like reminders, routines, checking on weather and news, communicating with family members and so much more. But little differences between the two give Alexa the advantage for seniors.

Best Google Home Services For Seniors

Reminders – A great feature for anyone (but especially for seniors) is setting up Google Home to notify and remind you of events on your calendar or just daily events such as medication reminders, when a TV show is on, doctor’s appointments, etc.

This feature works well for adults who are dealing with some cognitive decline issues such as mild dementia.

How To Use Google Home For Reminders and Notifications

If you’ve scheduled a reminder for a specific time then it will just automatically alert you at that time.

Otherwise, you can simply ask “Ok Google, what’s up?” or “Ok Google, what are my reminders?”

Note: Alexa’s reminder will start with something like “I’m reminding you to take your heart medication.” BUT – Google Home will only alert you that there’s a reminder but not state exactly what that reminder is. You have to follow up by asking “What is my reminder?”

How To Set Up Google Home For Reminders and Notifications

To set up reminders simply say “Hey Google, remind me to take my medicine every day at 2 pm.”

Routines – I love the routines feature on both devices. Essentially, this allows you to set up a series of events that are triggered by one command.

An evening command that I have set up on my Google Home goes like this…

1) I say “Hey Google, good night”
2) She responds by telling me what the weather will be tomorrow, what I have on my calendar tomorrow and then plays the sound of white noise (which is what I use to help me to sleep).

Check out this video on other ways that you can use Google Home routines to make life just a little easier!

Order Food – Although you can order food from a Google Home devices, it’s not as easy as it is on Amazon’s Alexa. You have to use a 3rd party program like FoodMonkey or if a restaurant like Domino’s Pizza has partnered with Google Home.

Order an Uber – Yes, you can ask your Google Home device to order and Uber ride but you can’t complete the process on Google Home. Instead, it sends the information to your phone to complete the transaction.

Remember Things – Basically, you can store information in your Google Home, which is pretty cool. So, you can say things like…

“OK, Google, remember that I put my passport in the filing cabinet” or “Remember that my password is ‘money’.”

Phone Calls – You can make phone calls on Google Home to any phone number in the USA, Canada and Mexico – which is very much like having a voice activated speaker phone at your disposal.

And like Alexa, as long as you have the person you want to call on your Google Contacts list then you can simply say… “Hey Google, call John Smith.” She may ask you which phone number (if you have multiple phone numbers listed) but once that decision is made the call will go through.

911 Calls – And again, like Alexa, you can also call 911 but you need an external product to do that. For Google, it’s the Ooma Telo. Once it’s all set up you simply say…

“Hey Google, ask Ooma to call 911.”

You do need to know that there is a service cost for the Ooma service, it’s very small, less than $10.00 a month as of 2019.

Ask My Buddy – just like Alexa, the Google Home device can be set up to use the Ask My Buddy system. It’s a great feature for seniors. It gives your voice activated device the ability to set up someone as your “buddy” so that in case you need help you can ask Google Home to contact them immediately. This can alert several people that you assign to the Ask My Buddy program.

The Ask My Buddy program is free for if you register 5 contacts or less on your list and if you use it 10 times or less in a 30 day period.

2. Functions

Can shop, track packages and get notifications of deliveries from Amazon

Can listen to music on Google

Can listen to music on Amazon

Google Home Mini is round and is 1.65 inches tall

Amazon Echo plus is 9.3 inches tall

Google Home Max is rectangular and about 7.4 inches tall

Amazon Echo Dot is round and is 1.3 inches tall

Google Nest Hub has a 7 inch visual display

Amazon Echo Spot is round with a 2.5 inch visual display

Google Next Hub Max has a 10 inch visual display

Amazon Echo Show is rectangular with a 7.4 inch visual display

Set a timer or series of timers.

Amazon Echo can also set a timer or series of timers.

Does Google Home Have Drop Ins?

Amazon’s Echo (Alexa) device has a feature called Drop In which allows the user call another Alexa device as an audio and/or visual (sort of like Skype). This can be calls to friends and family or even a call to another Alexa device within your own home (like an intercom system!).

Although both Google Home and Alexa have phone call features – the Google Home product does not have this Drop In feature.

The One Advantage Google Home Has Over Amazon’s Alexa

I personally own a Google Home device and an Amazon Echo Dot device. I use them each and every single day for a variety of purposes.

They both do many of the same things but the one single advantage that I see that Google Home has over Amazon’s Alexa is that Google Home is connected to the Google search engine.

Which means that when I ask Alexa a question – it doesn’t always have an answer or the right answer. In fact, I would say that about 25% of the time, it can’t give me the answer I’m looking for.

But when I ask Google Home the very same question – I get an answer 99.9% of the time and I would say that 95% of the time it’s exactly the answer I’m searching for.

The reason for this is because Amazon’s Alexa uses the Bing search engine whereas Google Home, of course, uses the ever so mighty Google search engine. And we all know, that Google’s database of information is much larger than any other search engine. And their technology is much more sophisticated which means they are able to give you the best answers to your questions possible.

So, if you will be using this voice device for answers to questions (which would be great for homework or research, etc.) then I would say to choose the Google Home product.

About the Author: Esther Kane

Esther Kane is a certified Senior Home Safety Specialist through Age Safe America. She also graduated from Florida International University with a BS in Occupational Therapy. She practiced OT in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina for 10 years. She specialized in rehabilitation for the adult population. Her expertise in home assessments and home safety issues for seniors will help you to make the best possible decisions for your elderly parent or senior that you are caring for.

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Robin and Esther are the duo behind SeniorSafetyAdvice.com! We both have years of experience in senior care – Esther as an Occupational Therapist and Robin as a Dental Hygienist and we have both cared for our elderly parents. In addition, we are both Certified Senior Home Safety Specialist’s through Age Safe America.

We are here to share what we have been through and what we learned with you!

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